July 30, 2009 - LONDON -- British American Tobacco (BAT) PLC reported Thursday, July 30th that its first half profit rose 16 percent from a year earlier to 1.45 billion pounds ($2.38 billion) as top brands such as Lucky Strike showed better sales.

Revenue was up 24 percent to 6.78 billion pounds, a 14 percent gain on a constant currency basis, boosted by last year's acquisitions of Skandinavisk Tobakscompagni of Denmark and Tekel of Turkey.Group volumes rose 5 per cent; however, excluding acquisitions volumes declined 2 percent, mainly due to falling sales in Russia, Ukraine, Japan and Mexico.

The company reported good volume growth in Pakistan, Bangladesh, South Korea, Uzbekistan, Nigeria and the Gulf Cooperation Council.